See below press release issued by the Guyana Cricket Board
Recently, the Cricket West Indies (CWI) High Performance Unit (HP) and the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/Harpy Eagles Franchise (GHE) held a historic meeting when the CWI HP Unit visited Guyana from Sunday, November 26 to Tuesday, November 28, 2023.
The CWI HP Unit included Mr. Enoch Lewis, a CWI Director and Chairman of the CWI Cricket Committee; Graeme West, the HP Manager; Miles Bascome, the newly appointed Director of Cricket; and Chris Brabazon, head of coaching education.
Brabazon brings four years of experience as a Coach Development Manager in Western Australia, having worked at every level of the Cricket Australia (CA) coaching development pathway, which ranges from the grassroots to international levels.
Brabazon, who boasts a Post Graduate Certificate in Business Administration, has over 12 years of experience working in the realm of cricket, with his last four years spent with CWI. Outside of coaching and talent development, the Aussie excels in cricket management and accounting.
West, the former Middlesex County academy director, who also served as the Middlesex Cricket Board’s development officer, has been active in his role for 12 years. He also guided the West Under-19s to their historic ICC World Cup title win, back in 2016.
In a welcoming meeting held on Monday, at the GCB Office prior to the visit to the different facilities, the GCB President Bissoondyal Singh thanked the HP Unit for this initiative.
Mr. Singh also highlighted the Government of Guyana’s (GOG) plan to have a national academy as soon as the indoor facility at the Guyana National Stadium (GNS) is completed. He further stated the vision of Guyana President Dr. Irfaan Ali, which includes the Mackenzie stadium in Linden, the Anna Regina stadium, and the Palmyra stadium.
Those aforementioned stadiums will boast state-of-the-art features that further add to the honing and development of Guyana’s cricket sector.
The Berbice Stadium, when done, will seat a whopping 10,000 spectators, adding to the ranks of venues like the famous National Stadium at Providence.
When completed, it will be arguably one of the best facilities in the country and possibly the Caribbean, with its multi-purpose features adding to the country’s stake as it relates to social and cultural activities being hosted at the venue.
President Ali, during the launch in March earlier this year, outlined the importance of Cricket and sports in general, across the spread of Guyana, making the new addition of the Cricket grounds in Linden and Anna Regina, coupled with the state-of-the-art stadiums, a groundbreaking time for Guyana’s cricket future.
The HP Unit’s visit to Guyana constitutes of a development plan where the committee is scheduled to visit each franchise to meet with the Territorial Boards (TB) and/or Franchise to overlook training sessions, visit training facilities used regularly as well as meet with the GCB President Bissoondyal Singh and the GCB’s Operations Unit to discuss CWI and GCB’s development plans for the next two-five years.
The CWI delegation, GCB President Singh and other officials from the GCB which included the GCB Chief Executive Officer Mr. Claude Raphael, GCB Chairman of Senior Selection Panel Ramnaresh Sarwan, Cricket Operations Manager Anthony D’Andrade and coaching staff Ryan Hercules (Head Coach), Garvin Nedd (Assistant Coach), Angelica Holder (Physiotherapist) and Jaryl Moore (Strength & Conditioning Coach) then visited the facilities that are used regularly by the GHE players.
The Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground, the Guyana National Stadium, Fitness53 Gym and the LBI Hostel facilities were the venues which were inspected.
The GCB’s CEO Mr. Raphael thanked the CWI team for visiting and welcomed this face-to-face meeting which, hopefully, would be held more often.
